Abstract

A three-plate modular, polymer, and planar waveguiding star coupler
for large-core polymer fibers is proposed and an 8 × 8 version is
demonstrated. The proposed structure can be mass produced by use of
injection-molding technology at a significantly low cost. Power
measurements indicate that a performance of 1.9-dB power fluctuation
among all receiving channels is possible at the expense of tolerating a
3.1-dB excess power loss. Trade-offs among device compactness,
overall power efficiency, and channel fluctuation are
discussed.